Ascend Read Online Free PDF

overhear us talking.
    “You’re no fun.” He wrinkled his nose and pulled the shirt
over his head.
    “Your back is horrific,” I said.
    “And I was just going to tell you how beautiful you look
today, but I’m not going to bother now if you’re going to talk that way.” Loki
sat back down on his bed, more lying than sitting.
    “I’m being serious. What happened to you?”
    “I already told you.” He stared down at his legs and picked
at lint on his pants. “The King hates me.”
    “Why?” I asked, already feeling   indignation at my father for doing
this to him. “Why in god’s name would he do something so brutal to you?”
    “You clearly don’t know your father,” Loki said. “This isn’t
that brutal for him.”
    “How is it not brutal?” I sat down on the bed next to him.
“And you’re nearly a Prince! How can he treat you this way?”
    “He’s the King,” he shrugged. “He does what he wants.”
    “But what about the Queen?” I
asked. “Didn’t she try to stop him?”
    “She tried to heal me at first, but eventually that became
too much for her. And there’s only so much Sara can do to counter Oren.”
    Sara, the Queen of the Vittra, was my stepmother, but she’d
once been betrothed to Loki. She was over ten years older than him, and it was
an arranged engagement that ended when he was nine. They were never romantic,
and she had always considered Loki more of a little brother and protected him
as such.
    “Did he personally do that to you?” I asked quietly.
    “What?” Loki looked up at me, his golden eyes meeting mine.
    He had a scar on his chin, and I’m certain he didn’t have
that before. His skin had been flawless and perfect, not that the scar
detracted in any way from how handsome he was.
    “That.” I touched the mark on his chin. “Did he do that to
you?”
    “Yes,” he answered thickly.
    “How?” I moved my hand, touched a
mark he had on his temple. “How did he do this to you?”
    “Sometimes he’d hit me.” Loki kept his eyes on me, letting
me trace my fingers on his scars. “Or he’d kick me. But usually, he used a
cat.”
    “You mean like a living cat?” I gave him an odd expression,
and he smiled.
    “No, it’s actually called a cat o’ nine tails,” he said.
“It’s like a whip, but instead of one tail, it has nine. It inflicts more
damage than a regular whip.”
    “Loki!” I dropped my hand, totally appalled. “He would do
that to you? Why didn’t you leave? Did you fight back?”
    “Fighting back wouldn’t do any good, and I left as soon as I
was able,” Loki said. “That’s why I’m here now.”
    “He held you prisoner?” I asked.
    “I was locked up in the dungeon.” He shifted and turned away
from me. “Princess, I’m glad to see you, but I’d really rather not talk about
this anymore.”
    “You want me to grant you amnesty,” I said. “I need to know
why.”
    “Why?” Loki laughed darkly. “Why do you think, Princess?”
    “I don’t know!”
    “Because of you.” He looked back at
me, a strange, crooked smile on his face. “I didn’t bring you back.”
    “But…” I furrowed my brow. “You asked to go back to the
Vittra. We bartered with the King so he could have you.”
    “Yes, well, he still thought you would come around.” He ran
a hand through his hair and sat up straighter. “And you didn’t. It was my fault
for letting you go in the first place, and then for not bringing you back.” He
bit his lip and shook his head. “He’s determined to get you, Princess.”
    “So he tortured you?” I asked quietly, and I tried to keep
the tremor from my voice. “Over me?”
    “Princess,” Loki sighed and moved closer to me. Gently,
almost cautiously, he put his arm around me. “What happened isn’t your fault.”
    “Maybe. But maybe this wouldn’t
have happened if I’d run away with you.”
    “You still can.”
    “No, I can’t.” I shook my head. “I have so much I need to do
here. I can’t just